


I'll Follow You Into the Dark

by LaDragonaria



Series: Adios, Despair! [2]
Category: Dangan Ronpa, Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa 3: The End of 希望ヶ峰学園 | The End of Kibougamine Gakuen | End of Hope's Peak High School
Genre: Backstory, Flashbacks, Friends to Lovers, Friendship/Love, M/M, Rival Relationship, Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-25
Updated: 2016-09-25
Packaged: 2018-08-17 07:53:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8136161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LaDragonaria/pseuds/LaDragonaria
Summary: The (unofficial headcanon) story of how Munakata Kyosuke and Sakakura Juzo met at Hope's Peak Academy as Class 74, and how Sakakura ended up wanting to support Munakata in his dream for hope.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Originally this was Chapter 20 in my other work "The Despair Tango" put in kind of like a filler fluff piece because I did want to explore the backstory between the two of them in a more... hopeful setting.
> 
> A sort of one-shot based on who I feel the characters are, this is more or less my headcanon version of how they met.

Hope’s Peak Academy, the symbol of hope in the new age! It’s said that if you manage to attend and graduate Hope’s Peak, you’re set for life.

But not just any regular students can attend this prestigious school. Only high schoolers who are the best and brightest in their fields, “Ultimates” or “Super High School Levels” can attend.

And already in their first year in Class 74, Munakata Kyosuke becomes the president of the student body. But that was really no surprise, he’s the Ultimate Student Council President after all!

 

But even so, that doesn’t necessarily mean their class is... united, yet. Regular classes are seen as a chore for some, and Hope’s Peak is more than willing to turn a blind eye to students neglecting studies in the pursuit of their talents.

One such student is the Super High School Level Boxer, Sakakura Juzo.

He cuts a dashing figure in the gym. Every morning there’s an intense workout, laps, pushups, pull-ups, sometimes swimming if the pool’s open. Usually it's laps, core exercises, and weights. Everything possible to be the best possible boxer.

Because with a title like his, what else is there anyway?

He swings expert punches at the punching bag, jab, jab, cross. Gym shorts, white sleeveless shirt, boxing gloves, boots. Working up a sweat like always.

“Your form is excellent.” A voice calls out to him from the doorway.

He strikes the punching bag once more before turning around, confused.

“Huh? You talking to me?”

“I said, your form is excellent.”

“I heard you. You lost?”

“Are you?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

The young man in front of him is neatly dressed and has an air of arrogance that instantly grates on his nerves. He knows who it is. He’s not that uninformed. But he can’t get past those cold eyes.

“There was a class meeting today. You did not attend.”

“My invitation must’ve gotten lost in the mail. Whoops.” He ignores him now.

“Not possible. I saw you read my notice. You crumpled it up and threw it in the trash.” He says before throwing a piece of paper that’s been squished into a ball down at his feet.

"Well, that's creepy of you. You also here to give me a love letter? I promise I'll read it before I throw it out.” He snickers.

“I thought I made it quite clear in the letter. You were to attend.”

“Listen, kid...” He says dismissively as he turns around. They’re more or less the same age, He might be a bit younger, but he’s definitely a bit shorter. And he refuses to let this ‘kid’ boss him around. “I don’t know what your deal is, but I’m the Super High School Level Boxer.”

“I’m the Super High School Level Student Council President, Munakata Kyosuke.” He says with a slight bow. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“I _know_ who you are.” Sakakura grumbles. He moves up to him, sizing him up and finding him lacking. Still, the President doesn’t look away. “I’m saying, I don’t care about you or your student council or your class meetings.”

“You are a member of our class. It is your duty to attend meetings as they directly affect you. I would not be able to do my job properly without you. That is why I ask that you attend meetings regularly.”

“I just said, I don’t care. I’m a boxer. I may be in your class, but that doesn’t make us friends. I don’t owe you anything. You don’t even know the first thing about me.”

He turns away for a moment.

“Sakakura Juzo. The youngest boxer in the country to win various municipal, provincial, state, and national boxing championships. Favored by many to be the country’s pick for the Olympic Games in boxing. Expected to become the World Heavyweight Champion. You favor strong tactics that let you use your own strength and an opponent’s uncertainty against them. You favor strong offense with a medium-level defense, preferring to overwhelm quickly. You favor southpaw style, which I assume makes you left-handed.” 

He states off facts as if they’re clearly obvious and common knowledge. Sakakura turns around, clearly impressed but unwilling to show it. 

“Sakakura Juzo. As my classmate and a member of the student body, you are also under my responsibility.”

Flushing with anger and surprise, he storms up to him, pulling him by the collar. He can pick Munakata up like a plastic bag. There’s an implacable coldness he can’t escape. A sensation of someone being immovable.

“Who the fuck do you think you are?”

“I am Munakata Kyosuke. Student Council President.”

“I know who you are!” He yells it loud enough that there’s the briefest glimmer of Munakata wincing and pulling away, but nothing more than a glimmer.

“I will bring hope into this world again. For that, I require your assistance. If even just for our time here at school.”

“You think _me_ attending classes and meetings is going to give anyone hope?”

“Do you... value yourself so little?” His question catches Sakakura completely off guard. “I assure you. There is a place for you in my dream of hope.”

“Hope...?”

Sakakura seems to taste the word as he says it, and clucks his tongue. He lets go of Munakata neatly.

With a speed few can follow, he throws a punch so hard at his punching bag that it rips off its mooring line, the material shredding where it had been punched. Sand or whatever the filling was sprays from the tear and spills all across the floor.

His form, his technique... Everything practiced and perfect.

“Listen up, pretty boy. I don’t give two shits about you or your hope. I’m a boxer. I’m here to box. I’m here to be the best. Hope or no hope... It really doesn’t matter to me at all.”

“Without hope...” He says, stepping forward. “What are you, other than your title?”

“Wh-?”

“If you can’t find hope, then aren’t you just another nameless person on this planet? Without hope, who do you expect to be?”

The punch Sakakura throws stops mere centimeters from Munakata’s face. A gust of wind from the almost-impact ruffles his hair.

“You talk a lot, Prez.” He fumes, almost purple with anger. “What do you have besides some fancy words? All you’ve got are speeches. Go graduate and be a politician. Go be Prime Minister, or World Leader. It has nothing to do with me. You and your hope... they’re worthless to me.”

“You’re wrong.” He states flatly, unimpressed by the punch or bravado. “There is a place for you in my vision of hope. All you need to do is be responsible and accountable to yourself and claim it.”

“...You’re fucking exhausting. I’m gonna hit the showers. If you’re not gone by the time I come back, I will beat you ugly.”

 

Without waiting for a rebuttal, he pulls off his boxing gloves and marches for the showers.

The entire time, he can only think of how hope means nothing to him. What is hope to him? Just a fancy word.

Hope won’t pay for his tuition. Hope won’t pay for his doctor’s visits, or his coaches. It won’t pay for his transportation to matches. It won’t help him find a job. It won’t let him succeed in this world.

All he has is talent. All he can trust in is his talent. Without that, he’d be ordinary. And if he were ordinary... There’d be no point to anything.

School is just a means to an end. This school is just the best one for what he needs.

The way Munakata talks about things he doesn’t understand... pisses him off!

He slams his fist into the shower tile. It cracks and shatters like everything else he hits. Not even a bruise on his knuckles. He scoffs and turns the water off.

 

When he leaves, dressed in his uniform with his gym bag he scans the room. The sand is still splayed out on the floor. But Munakata isn’t there.

He snorts with a smirk. Guess hope wasn’t worth the beating after all.

When he walks out of the gym, however, he sees the young man sitting in the grass expectantly.

“There you are. I was waiting. You took a longer time than I expected.”

“Didn’t I tell you to go away?”

“More or less.”

“You that eager to get your ass kicked?”

“I don’t think you could. Not the way you are now. You’re still not on my level.”

Well, that’s it. The President wants to die.

He throws his gym bag to one side, and takes off the blazer, and throws that aside. He rolls up the sleeves of his button-down shirt. He knows part of the job is intimidation. Seeing those muscles, who wouldn’t be afraid?

Munakata Kyosuke apparently.

“I don’t really want to fight. However... If that is what it takes, might we make a wager?”

“Huh? ...I’m not gonna steal your lunch money like some schoolyard bully.”

“Nothing like that. Something simpler.” Munakata takes off his blazer and also rolls up his sleeves. “If I win, you attend all classes and class meetings regularly. Any more than that would be selfish on my part.”

“Ah? And when I win, what do I get?”

“If you can beat me... I hadn’t thought about it.”

“You...! Don’t get cocky. I’m a boxer. I’ll knock you flat, pretty boy.”

“In that case, how about I let you decide? If you beat me, you decide what I owe you. It could be wealth, or power... Or I could do your assignments for you until graduation. I could even quit school for you if you win. Anything you want.”

“You better be careful signing checks you aren’t able to pay.”

“If you’re so confident... then show me.”

 

He would have felt bad, but he doesn’t. He shoots forward like a missile, a punch so hard it will knock out anyone instantly, he thinks.

At the last moment, the President sidesteps him. All it takes is some quick footwork, a pivot on his heel. And a hard kick to his back knocks Sakakura off balance. He tumbles over his feet ass over teakettle, rolling through the dirt.

“I apologize for that. I realize I may have caught you off guard with my feet. You see, you challenged me to a fight, but I’m afraid I don’t know boxing techniques very well.”

“...You do whatever you need to.” His nose is bloodied, and he can’t say he isn’t impressed now. But he absolutely won’t lose.

“May I ask then, what is it you hope to achieve.”

“I want to be the best!” He raises his fist.

“And what else?”

“I want... to knock that look right off your face!”

He moves towards him again, just as fast and just like before Munakata dodges, but that’s part of the feint.

He carefully turns and with his left hand, strikes and feels the resistance of his fist meeting flesh. He can see Munakata is surprised it hit so hard, as he slides back. Now the President’s nose is bloody, and he’s sure he split the man’s lip too.

But if he’s in pain, he doesn’t say so.

Instead, all he’s got is that dispassionate expression.

He feels his left arm pulled forward and a kick to his midsection sends him into a belly flop on the earth.

Munakata walks towards him again.

“All you have now is survival. But is that really what you want?”

“Shut up!” He shoots up with an uppercut but Munakata quickly deflects the blow. “You... What do you know about me?!”

“I know you need more to live.”

There are a flurry of punches, but even he isn’t sure if any connect.

“You don’t know... what I’ve had to do! How hard I’ve had to train! How hard I’ve had to work! And... And all on my own! Using my own talent to do it! What is your hope without talent?!”

"Sakakura Juzo is who you are. You are not your talent. You have talent, but that shouldn't define you. Are you that blind that you can't see what you could be?"

"I don't want to hear it!!"

He shoots forward in another lunge with his left hand, eager to share his left hook with the President's smug face. Even if what he is saying is true... If... if it is true... Then...

Munakata ducks under the final blow, having presumably dodged the others. A hard knee hits him in the stomach. He momentarily loses the ability to breathe before a hard elbow impacts his side and sends him tumbling haphazardly onto the ground in another roll.

Sakakura struggles to move, turning on his side. He moves to stand but a foot crunches down on his hand, not enough to cause pain, but enough to keep him still.

“Stay down. This is over.”

“It... It’s not over! I won’t... I won’t lose to anyone! Especially not you!”

Sakakura frees his hand and lunges up to swipe at him but now his form is all sloppy.

It’s easy enough for Munakata to grab his arm and flip him over his shoulder in a judo throw. Sakakura lands hard on his back.

“Why can’t you lose? Surely it’s possible.”

“Sh... Shut up...” He mutters weakly. “I... won’t lose. I... need to perfect my talent...”

“Why?”

“S... So that I can make my future!” He isn’t sure why, but he feels tears stinging his eyes. Munakata hasn’t acted maliciously, but there’s something there that he needs to push away from. “I... Need my talent... Otherwise what good am I anyway?!”

“What is that if not despair?!”

Munakata’s angry shout startles him more than anything. He can see the seriousness, the... anger in his face. The way his bottom lip trembles as if to call him an idiot without putting it into words.

“There are hundreds of ways to never amount to anything. But trusting so highly in something as fickle as talent... is the stupidest one.”

“Shut up.”

“You could be hurt, or get into an accident, or fall ill, or lose your ability to stay here...”

“Sh...Shut up...”

“You could become injured or paralyzed, or lose an important match, or be used by a shady coach to further their own career at your expense...”

“Please... just...! Shut... up...!”

“You could lose your hands, you could develop an incurable disease, you could be destroyed in a scandal, or you could decide that boxing doesn’t make you happy and want to quit, or-”

“Shut up, shut up, shut up!! Just... shut up and... Leave me alone...” Sakakura moves onto his stomach, tears unable to be contained. “I... I need this. I don’t... I don’t have anything else. I’m not good at anything else! I don’t have any other talents... this... is all I have...”

“That isn’t true.”

“This is all that I am... and if I’m not good enough then... I’ll be discarded and forgotten. If I... can’t even do this... then what else is there...?! What else am I good for?!”

Munakata kneels down to him. He sounds like he’s smiling as he offers his hand.

“There’s a world full of people with no talent. Even the people with talent become lost or disillusioned. That’s why I want to make a world of hope for them. For everyone.”

“...Even... me?”

He helps Sakakura up to his knees, ready to move him onto his feet.

“There’s a place for you in my world of hope. Let’s build it together, okay, Juzo?”

Something inside of him clicks, as if some door has been unlocked. He instantly turns bright red, unsure of what the reason is until he’s helped up.

Munakata smiles at him, and Sakakura wipes his face as quickly as he can. He’s still covered in dirt and blood, but it’s a look.

When he sees Munakata go over to his things and bend down... It’s there that he maybe takes too great of an interest in the form of Munakata as sweat sticks to his shirt and shows off more of Munakata’s physique, especially when he bends.

_Oh no... This... This is bad... Not... Not with him..._

Sakakura suppresses the feeling of panic as they gather their things. 

 

As they head towards the school building, Munakata is intent on showing him where the class meetings are held. It occurs to Sakakura that he lost. So he has to do what Munakata says on this matter...

“And over there is Yukizome. She’s also helping out.”

“Oh. Her.” He nods. He’s heard of Yukizome. “Is... she your girlfriend?”

He asks it as slyly as he can. He’s very sure it didn’t come out sly at all.

“Hahaha... Why?” He turns to Sakakura with that gentle smile. “Are you interested?”

He immediately turns red as a tomato.

“...You got me.” Interested in you, at least... he finishes the sentence in his head.

Yukizome approaches but is a little put off by Sakakura at first.

“You’re back and... What happened to your face?!”

“This is Sakakura Juzo. He’s going to come to meetings and help out, right?”

“...Yeah.”

“And... And his face! What... You two are filthy!!” She is losing her mind. “You’re covered in dirt and grass stains and blood! Were you two... rolling around in the dirt?! Do you know how hard it is to get grass stains and blood out of white clothes?!”

“...Uh... no?” Sakakura volunteers.

“Give me your clothes.” She says as she begins to pat both of them roughly with a handkerchief, trying to wipe dirt off their faces.

“I don’t know who you are, but I’m not stripping down on campus for a girl!” He says loudly, getting in her face. It... somehow came out wrong.

“You two can either give me your clothes now so I can wash them, or I make you take them off. That's your choice. What's it gonna be?”

“Listen to this one. Do you like pushy girls, Munakata?”

“You must have gym clothes! Just put those on!”

“I said I’m not getting naked in front of everyone!”

“Then go to the bathroom and change like a normal person!”

“You’re the one who wants me to change out here like a weird person!”

“...You two are funny.”

“Stay out of it!” Yukizome and Sakakura answer at the same time.

**Author's Note:**

> You can find and read "The Despair Tango" over here: 
> 
> http://archiveofourown.org/works/8105842/chapters/18577075
> 
> I would recommend you be caught up with the series at least up to Episode 11 (the one that killed me emotionally)!


End file.
